Elvric: Captain of Fellmuth
by Fields-of-Avalar
Summary: Not many knew the horrors of the ship Fellmuth, nor of the arena where prisoners were forced to fight for the entertainment of Skabb and his Scavenger Pirates, the reason why is because not many actually survived the the arena, but a few did, and one of them is the new captain. This is his story. (Violence, blood and gore I won't tell you Elvric's race. R&R please)
1. Chapter 1

I sat on the cold wooden floor, as I listened to the cheetah, in the cell next to me crying silently. Turning my head to take him in, I saw he wore a hunter's wardrobe. Dark brown leather armor with pieces of cloth underneath for comfort, a hood, and on his back an empty quiver and a useless bow. He was covered in head to tail, with blood. Small cuts lined his body as they bled, though it was clear that not all the blood that covered him was his own. His small whimpers could be heard through the whole brigg. Turning forward I sighed.

They had just brought him in today, and he had been forced to fight in the arena. I didn't even give him a second glance, too ashamed was I to look at him, as not long ago, I had been like him. We all were like that during the first time we had taken a life. Scared and shaken, not sure how we could live with ourselves, not sure if we could forgive ourselves. I remembered that feeling, still felt it from time to time, still woke in the night from nightmares of what I had done.

I was different now though. Killing had become a daily thing for me, killing had become a means of survival, and after two long years of being forced to fight, I had grown numb to the pain, I could kill and not feel sorrow for what I had done. I had learned long ago, that it was either kill or be killed. Show no mercy as it would not be accepted, nor would it be given. Do whatever it takes to live another day.

In the arena, honor was nonexistent, a long forgotten dream that would only get you killed. My new neighbor would learn that soon enough, or he'd die, I guess I would find out in the coming days, but for now it seemed that it was now my turn to fight.

I watched with neutral expression, as the scavenger pirate walked to my cell. The ugly slobbering mutt who's tongue hung from his lips had a dumb vacant expression on his face, the red and white striped shirt he wore, making him indistinguishable from the other scavengers. Pulling out his keys, he unlocked my cell door. Standing I walked out of my cell, and headed on my way towards the arena. The Scavenger, followed me close behind.

Stopping I came acrossed the the large metal gate that separated me from the arena. The sound of cheering and bloodlust could be heard through the gaps of the gate. Looking I could see the scarred and burnt battle land that was the arena. There was a small tap on my shoulder. Turning I watched as the Scavenger pulled a knife from his belt and handed it to me, an evil glint in his eyes. Understanding what he wanted, I took the knife

The gate lifted and I walked inside of the arena. The moment I stepped into the light. Cheers erupted, these were not the cheers of fans who were supporting their favorite warrior, they were bloodthirsty cries filled with malice and a lust for violence. There was once a time when I would cower at their jeers and howls for my blood. Now though, I didn't care, the same numbness that had overcome me when I killed had seeped into my fear of those around me.

Keeping my eyes forward on the other gate, listened as Skabb, the captain of the crew, growled and moaned into the microphone. A sigh could be heard before Scratch, the parrot on his left shoulder, began to speak. "Fiends, and freaks. Elvric has survived two years, longer than any prisoner we've had before, he's survived some of our deadliest fighters, and he's shown a brutality that we have not seen in such a long time."

"He's a monster!" Sniff, added, the parrot who sat on Skabb's right shoulder.

"You've watched as for the past two years Elvric has killed, slaughtered and maimed your fellow pirates! But today He faces the Blundertails!" Scratch shouted in glee, the scavengers all screamed in approval.

"He gonna die!" Sniff added gaining more cheers.

I on the other hand looked forward, my eyes never leaving the gate acrossed from me. I could see movement behind behind the bars, could hear the screeches of the beast who lurked behind the bars of steel. I had seen the Blundertails, they were large grotesque scorpion like creatures who had a blunderbuss on their tail. I had watched many fights as the Blundertails had shredded through countless prisoners.

I blocked out the sound of scratch and sniff, my eyes narrowing as my grip on the knife the scav guard had given me. Soon there was the sound of a horn being blown. The gate quickly lifted as the blundertail stepped into the ring, the scav ridder on his back waving his hands as he tried to get the crowd to respond. They responded with cheers and jeers.

" **Rip 'em apart!"**

" **Make 'em beg!"**

" **Bring me 'is head!"**

Those were among the few thousand voices I could hear, all the while I never moved, my eyes however were scanning over the Blundertail. I was looking for a way to attack, the outer shell was to thick for my knife to cause any damage, however my eyes landed on the creature's eyes, as a plan began to form.

The blundertail lifted it's pincers into the air before letting out a screech and charging. Tossing the blade in the air I caught it by the handle in a reversed grip before charging at the Blundertail myself. This seemed to surprise both the rider and the crowd who watched, the Blundertail however continued to charge undaunted by my charge. It's pincers opened ready to cut me in half. Before it could grab me however, I lunged at the rider, the knife held out.

There were gasps of surprise as the rider and i tumbled to the ground, the knife currently buried in the chest of the of the rider. A screech behind me caused me to remove the knife and roll away. A moment later a cannon ball flew past me, killing the rider. Righting myself I watched as the Blundertail screeched and attempted to catch me in it's pincers.

I dodged of course and moved away, putting distance between the blundertail. It gave chase, it's tail moving constantly trying to lock on me, as more cannonballs flew past, it seemed the blundertail had a near unlimited number of shots, a fact that disturbed me. Running would do no good, it would only served to tire me out. Changing course I ran at one of the walls that separated me from the stands. I had to dodge as barrels of corrosive goo were thrown my way, the Blundertail however did not copy me.

Running headlong into the barrels of goo, I heard the sound of sizzling before the blundertail screeched and shook the goo off before continuing to chase me. Still running I reached the moot that separated me from the wall, thankfully it wasn't a large gap. Jumping I touched the wall, before pushing off of it. The blundertail think it had cornered me skidded to a stop before it could fall into the moot, the same acidic goo that had been in the barrels filled the moot.

Soaring through the air, I landed on it's back, before gripping the knife in both hands. Bringing the knife down as hard as i could, I plunged the blade into one of the blundertail's many eyes, before repeating the process. One,, two, three, four, five, times I plunged the blade into the face of the blundertail, each plunge of the blade was accompanied by a screech of pain and fury. Suddenly I felt something hitting me in the head. Falling off of the blundertail, in pain, I scattered to my feet and watched as the blundertail turned left and right trying to find me.

Moving back my feet scuffed against the ground, making the blundertail turn in my direction. It's tail raised to fire and I had to duck before my head was taken off. Slowly it began to approach me, slowly as it tried to find my exact position. Moving slowly I moved out of it's line of approach as I tried to flank it, however the scav's began to throw items into the ring, in the general direction of where I was standing.

Turning again the Blundertail rushed me, Jumping to the side I swiped at it with my knife, hoping to lob off one of it's legs, but the knife had no effect. Cursing I jumped to the side as his tail came at me. Getting ready to stand I stopped as a shadow fell over me. Looking up I saw as the Blundertail had walked overtop of me, being blinded by my blade it was unable to see me on the ground and had used it's sense of hearing to move to my last known location. As slowly and carefully as I could, i turned on my back as an idea formed in my head. Before it knew what had happened, I planted my legs under its stomach and pushed with everything i had.

The blundertail went flying into the air, before landing on it's back. Jumping to my feet, I saw my chance to strike. Running at the blundertail, I jumped onto his stomach, I felt it give a bit, the underside of it's shell being softer than the rest of it, and did a repeat performance. Bringing the knife up in both hands I stabbed the blundertail over and over.

The creature struggled desperately as it tried to to right itself and throw me off, but my weight kept it pinned, as again and again my knife plunged into it's flesh. The creatures green blood sprayed from it's wounds, yet I did not falter, even as the bitter and rancid taste of it invaded my nose and mouth. I continued to stab long after it had stopped moving, and I only stopped when at last the blundertails entrails began to spill out onto the dirt.

Stepping off of the damned beast, I moved back to examine my work. It's chest had been cut open and crushed, the ground around it turning green as it's blood seeped into the soil. Turning away I walked back to the gate I had entered in. The surrounding crowd had gone quiet in surprise.

"My fellow gauls, Elvric has won again!" Scratch began, his voice rising in excitement. "We've underestimated him yet again and he continues to surprise us! Truly this strange being continues to be an excellent source of entertainment!"

I didn't hear anything after that I had already walked back inside and his voice had faded, but I could hear the cheering, could hear the chants for my blood turning to chants to watch me fight again. Passing the Scav guard who had given me his knife, I dropped it at his feet before walking back to my cell.

After retrieving the knife, I heard the guard follow me. My cell door was still open, and I walked inside without any problem. I had learned long ago that trying to escape was useless, To escape you would need a big distraction, such a thing was hard to come by, and those who attempted to escape and were caught, died in the Arena the very next day. I was by no means a fool, I knew I could fight in the arena for as long as I needed, but the Scavs had been holding their strongest back, saving them for only the most promising of Prisoners.

Turning to look at the cell next to mine, I saw the cheetah had stopped crying, though he looked at me with a sense of fear and wonder. Looking down at myself I saw I was covered in the Blundertails blood. It dripped from my clothes and filled the brig with the smell of death, but I saw something else in the cheetah's eyes as well. A type of curiosity that I had not seen before. I paid him no mind, though, instead I turned forward, and headed for the small bucket that was in the corner. Inside was water though it was dirty and disgusting. Without hesitation I began to clean myself of the blood of the blundertail.

Tomorrow I would see what was in store for me.


	2. Chapter 2

That morning when I woke up I fund a plate of food had been slipped into my cell. The food itself looked like cooked beef but smelled of something far more foul. Approaching the food I sniffed the air, the distinct foul odor it was giving off, did little to throw me off.

"The Scavengers brought it not long ago, said it was a reward for winning yesterday." The cheetah in the cell next to mine said as he watched me eye the meat.

It made sense, and this had not been the first time I had received food for winning what was thought to be a hard battle, or for putting on an excellent show. Of course we were feed on a regular basis, usually not much to gain strength from, but enough to keep us alive. Bending down I lifted the plate before I lifted the meat and tore a piece off. Immediately the taste of the blundertail's blood flooded my mouth making me grimace in disgust, but nonetheless I swallowed the meat.

The sound of the Cheetah gagging caught my attention, and I turned to watch him. Once he got over his little fit, he look at me in disgust. "How can you eat that? It's smells so disgusting." He commented as he seemed ready to throw up.

"When you're in here long enough you don't turn down food. Any bit they give you should be eaten, any ounce of strength you can gain, is more strength than your opponent has" I replied as I finished the rest of the meat. As expected the rest of it had not been any better than the first bite, but I had managed to scarf it down so I was happy.

Returning to the place I had woken up at I began my morning routine, which consisted of some light work out intended to keep my physical strength consistent without wasting too much energy. It wasn't until I was halfway done that the Cheetah had spoken again.

"Who...who are you?" he asked, his voice shaking afraid I would take offense.

"Elvric." I replied simply. Saying nothing more on the matter.

"And...what ...w-what are you?" he asked next.

At this I ignored him, I had grown so tired of the question, tired of explaining it, tired of having to try and explain it to everyone, only to have it mean nothing as they died. I suppose he thought I hadn't heard him, after all he had whispered it in fear, because he repeated himself.

"I asked what you were." he said again, his voice louder this time. Again I ignored him, as I worked on maintaining concentration. "Don't ignore me, what are you!" Sighing I stopped in the middle of a pushup. He like so many others would not give up, always with the questions and never satisfied.

Standing I approached him, my neutral look on my face once again. As I approached I saw him grow scared. Fear lit up on his face as he slowly inched away from me. My hand shot out, however, and grabbed him by his tunic. Slowly pulling him to the bars of our cells I whispered quietly in his ear. " _Survive for five rounds and I'll tell you whatever you want to know."_ With that I let him go before returning to my workout.

I could hear his quickened breathing and feel his eyes on me, however I had ignored it as well. This had been a little trick of mine. I had found in the past that most of the prisoners who arrived, were cowards and wouldn't normally last to five rounds in the arena, those who did, were far and few, but they happened, however in the event that they did survive to the five rounds, they would be hesitant about asking me.

"I'm Kitto." I heard him say. I paused for a moment, a little surprised. Normally after my little intimidation, my other cell mates would avoid talking to me, some even avoided looking at me, others just glared in anger and no doubt plotted my death, but he had the courage to tell me his name. I couldn't help but smile a bit.

 **00000**

I didn't fight that day, but then of course I hadn't expected to. The Scavs never had me fight on a day they had given me extra rations. Whether it was so that I wouldn't waste it, or to try and lure me into a sense of hope only to dash it away, I wasn't sure, but that did what I could to stay in fighting shape, I did what I could with the limited amount of energy I had. Of course Kitto, looked at me as though I was insane, but I paid him no mind. Chances are he would not be here long enough to understand. Of course his courage gave me hope.

It wasn't long after I had finished my workout that the Scavs came to get Kitto. They were having him fight again today. I watched as they opened the cell door. For a moment I saw hesitation on his face, but he seemed to swallow what fear he had before he allowed the Scavs to lead him to the arena. I didn't do anything when he left. Instead I sat and saved what little energy I could. I needed to make sure that I was strong enough for my next fight.

It was maybe an hour later that Kitto, finally returned. The Scavs had to drag him back into his cell. Cuts and bruises littered his body, but nothing seemed life threatening. If it was, the Scavs would have put him on display, tied him to a pole and let the crowd watch as his life slipped away. The fact that he was back in his cell told me he was alive, if not battered. Not long after they dragged him back in did they put a plate of the same meat they had given me today.

Kitto didn't move to eat it. I thought perhaps he was simply too tired to move, but after awhile I watched as he sat up. He took one look at the meat before gagging. "If you don't eat, you'll never reach round 5 of the arena." I commented as I closed my eyes.

"I'm not going to eat that, it's disgusting!" He protested. I swear i could feel him sticking his tongue out as he said that.

"Then give it to me." I replied as I stood up and approached the bars separating our cells.

Kitto looked surprised. "You're honestly that hungry, that you'd eat that trash?!"

"I told you when I woke up. Never turn down a meal here, it may be your last." I replied watching him as he considered this. After awhile though I watched as he moved to pick the food up. Moving away from the bars I returned to my previous spot and closed my eyes as I waited for sleep to come.

In this hell hole sleep was all I could do. "So how long have you been here?" Kitto asked gaining an annoyed growl from me.

"Shut up and eat before I take your food." I snapped at him. Immediately the room fell into silence before, i could hear Kitto shuffling with the meat. After awhile I heard him take his first bite. The resulting sound of gagging and dry heaving did not surprise me. I had eating many foul things in my stay here.

I was sure he was going to throw up, and so I opened my eyes ready to take his food, so that it didn't go to waste, however I watched as he stuffed the food down his throat, the look of disgust and sickness, that covered his face would have been an amusing sight, if not for the fact that I knew that look all too well. I watched him, and was both satisfied and disappointed to find that he had eaten the whole thing.

Closing my eyes I tried to sleep, but his voice broke the silence again. "How long have you been here?"

Sighing I had to admit, he was a brave one, or he was stupid, either way it seemed his curiosity would not be satisfied. Turning to look at the ground I found the tick marks in the floor, that I had made, and as quickly as I could I counted them. "2 years, 3 months and 5 days." I said before closing my eyes again.

"How have you survived for so long?" Groaning I opened my eyes to look at him.

"By knowing when to keep my mouth shut and not ask stupid questions." I replied as I gave him a hard glare.

"...How many cellmates have you had?" Immediately my glare turned to surprise before being replaced by rage.

In a flash I was on my feet with my face pressed up against the bars of the cell, a fierce snarl on my face. I watched as he jumped from his spot and moved as far away from me as he could, he looked at me as if I was about to kill him, and in truth I wasn't far off from doing so. After awhile I finally spoke, my voice was a quiet whisper, the threat of my unbridled rage, barely contained through clenched teeth. "Never…." I began before taking a breath to steady myself "Never ask me that." Before he could reply I turned and walked back to my spot. Laying down with my back facing him, I closed my eyes and tried to sleep yet again.

He didn't say anything after that, which gave me some comfort. Closing my eyes I forced myself to clear my mind. And soon Sleep overtook me.

 **00000**

Sitting up from the floor, covered in sweat, I looked around my cell. My heart pounded in my chest, and a sense of fear and dread that i had not felt in quite some time, began to slowly recede away back from where it had come from. Looking around I saw that night had fallen. Standing I approached the bars separating my cell from Kitto's.

The brig was naturally dark, with no windows to let in natural light it made the nights and sometimes the day, hard to navigate. The scavs, as stupid as they were, were just smart enough to know that most of their prisoners needed light to function, the exception being the moles that I saw every now and then.

Lanterns lined the walls of the brig, but currently their flames had been extinguished, making the brig nearly pitch black. Still though I couldn't make out the form of Kitto. Sighing and shaking my head, I moved away from the bars and returned to my spot.

Try as I might, though I could not bring myself to fall back to sleep. The nightmares that had woken me, left a sour taste in my mouth, that I only later identified as blood. It had taken all of my willpower simply to push the nightmare from my mind, and still it's effects were felt. I was shaken, Shaken to core, though I did not allow my body to betray such feelings, I was haunted. The memory's of all the lives I had taken in the arena, came flooding back. Some affected me less than others. The faces of animals and beasts that I had slayed, did not perturb me as much as the faces of the scavs whose faces contorted in terror as the life left their eyes.

Those were the faces that haunted my dreams, and despite my best efforts to console myself, despite my constant inner monologue, that "they would not accept mercy or show it" I still felt a bit guilty. Nothing would change that, I knew that well. I had been soaked in the blood of my enemies, so many times that I'd lost count, and it no longer disturbed me to the point that I rushed to clean myself of it as fast as I could.

Still, I felt an empty hollow space in my heart, it was a blackness that ate away at what I was, leaving what I had become to be painfully obvious. I was a killer now, I survived on the deaths of those who had been placed before me, I was a survivor, but I was also a killer, and that, that would stick with me for as long as I lived.

It was as I sat in the darkness contemplating my own life that I found myself at my most miserable. I was always miserable, but never so much than when I sat alone with my thoughts. At first I would try to do something in my cell to keep my busy, but that only served to waste my energy, which had nearly resulted in my death several times. Only by a pure stroke of luck, was it that I had come to survive those battles. Afterwords I would just sit in my cell, doing nothing, hoping beyond hope that I might escape. This proved a bad development, for I slowly began to go insane as I held on to delusions.

It wasn't until my cellmate at the time began to converse with me that I slowly returned from my madness. He'd been a mole, a simple inventor before he was forced to fight. He'd made many great weapons that allowed him to survive, and as we talked and I grew to know him, we had become friends.

I should have know though that having friends was dangerous. One day when he went to fight in the arena, he'd never came back. I knew what had happened. I'd heard the stories. He was dead. So shattered was I at his death, that I almost gave up. My enemy had me by the throat, I was ready to die, I was tired of the cruelty of the arena, of what my life had become.

And then I smashed his head in with a rock. It had happened before I even knew what I was doing. My heart was racing that day, fear gripped me like a vice, and a deep and primal part of my mind screamed at me for being foolish. During our struggle I had unconsciously grabbed a rock and hit him in the head, and before I could stop myself, I had jumped on him and brought the knife down on his head several times. I cried in fear as I beat him long after he had died. After that day, I had gotten the attention of the Scavs. They saw me as brutal and cold and callious.

At first I didn't want to give in to their words, but I soon found out I could not escape them. New cellmates came, and passed we and talked and I formed bonds of friendship with them, but they soon fell in the arena. After a while the loss of my friends became too much, I couldn't bring myself to make any more. So I stopped talking to the new cellmates.

This had been how I lived for two years, This was how much life had taken a turn for me. After a while, the brig began to grow brighter. The door to the upper deck always remained open, and it let in some of the sun's rays. Looking down at the floor I used a nail to make another tick mark. "2 years, 3 months, 6 days."

 **00000**

A week passed, and Kitto, survived another two rounds in the arena. The first two days after I had snapped at him, he refused to talk to me, but then on the third day he apologized. After that he tried to make short conversation, however that's all it ever amounted to, short. Still furious with him over his question I kept my responses as short and simple as I could, sometimes I would just ignore his questions in general, but as he won his third round I noticed he didn't shake as much, he was still visibly shaken, but he was learning to cope with it.

After his fourth round it only took an hour for him to start talking to me. He spoke about how he was going to learn what I was, and that alone seemed to keep him going. I fought three more rounds, in the arena myself. It seemed that in the two years since my stay, the Scavs had decided to up the challenge. I faced three scavs that day, and four the next, On my third round I faced six. That had been a tough battle, and I admit I came away with a few deep cuts myself, but they weren't life threatening, and even so, the ship's medic, if he could even qualify as such, stitched the more severe cuts.

Returning to my cell I always found Kitto, waiting for me. He would ask me about my fight, and ask for tips on surviving, I mostly gave him my short and simple answers, while my advice ranged from, "don't get caught off guard." To "be faster than your opponent" While it wasn't the most helpful of tips, I never lied to him. My advice had always been solid and full of truth. If he allowed himself to be caught off guard, he'd die, and if he was faster than his opponent, then he'd be able to end the fight quickly, or get away were things to go wrong.

It came as no surprise to me however, when he didn't return from his fifth round in the arena. Sighing in what I could only describe as disappointment, another tick was made in the wooden floor. Though this one was hidden away, by a bale of hay. Despite my attempts to ignore him, Kitto had made an impact on me, in a way that had not been done in a long time. While I never thought of him as a friend, his absence would be noticed.

 **00000**

I watched as the Scavs tried desperately to wrangle my new cellmate into her cage. I watched with a bit of fascination. In all my 2 years here I had seen many cellmates. Cheetah, mole, and Lamas who called themselves Atlawa, I'd never seen her species before, and yet as I watched her struggle and bite at the scavs, there was only one word that could come to mind.

"Dragon." I whispered in surprise and awe.

She screamed and yelled, and she fought like hell, trying to tear the scavs to shreds, but there were too many of them. Four held her by her legs, while I fifth held her tail firmly, A sixth one opened the cell door, before they all threw her in the cell. The door closed before she could even get back to her feet, though that didn't stop her from throwing herself against the bars as she tried to reach the scavs.

They only laughed before leaving. I watched as she stared after them for awhile before moving to the back of her cell. I don't know what came over me, don't know why I decided to break my rule about keeping to myself, maybe it was because i felt pity for her, maybe it was because she was the first dragon i had ever seen. Whatever the reason I spoke to her.

"You shouldn't have fought." I said as I closed my eyes and rested my head against a bale of hay. There was silence, followed by the sound of paws hitting the wooden floor, the sound of claws scraping against wood, then they stopped.

"What did you say?" She asked, her voice startling me. Not because she spoke, but rather she sounded young. Immediately I felt my chest tighten in anger. I knew the Scavs were monsters, knew that they were cruel bastards, but never had i thought that they'd go so far as to kidnap a child. What made my heart ache more was I knew she would be thrown into the arena, forced to fight for her life.

I opened my eyes to stare at her, just now taking in her appearance for the first time. Her scales were black, with the membranes of her wings being a deep crimson red, the same shade as her chest plates. Behind her I saw her tail which ended in a deadly looking blade that curved like a scythe. She was small, her face still holding traces of baby fat, and her eyes. I lingered on her eyes for a moment longer than any other part of her body. They were a deep emerald green, but they were so full of pain, and sorrow, and guilt. As I stared into her eyes I saw recognition, and I knew, we shared the same eyes.

Closing my eyes to break what trance I had fallen into I sighed as I stared at the ceiling. "You shouldn't have fought them." I repeated. "You might have gotten cleaning duty had you just kept your head down, but now you'll fight in the arena."

"I can take care of myself, I don't need you to tell me how to live my life." She responded. I heard the anger in her voice, the determination, but I also heard the sorrow as well.

"You don't have much of a life left anymore." I said, as I tried to keep myself from crying in anger. She was going to die, and her life hadn't even started yet, and it tore me up inside because I couldn't do anything to stop it. No one deserved to die young, and no one deserved this hellish existence.

"I'll escape, I don't know how but I'll escape." I scuffed at that. I'd seen escape attempts, I'd seen how bad they ended.

All the prisoners would be dragged out of our cells, forced the watch as the one who'd try to run was crucified. Wounds opened on their body and left for the crows to pick at them until they died. It was a terrible sight, but it had a message that was clear to all. There was only one way to escape this ship. Death would be our only release, be it a quick end in the arena, or a slow and painful one as we were picked clean.

"You don't want to do that either." I said, the image of her tied to a pole and picked clean making me shiver.

"And why not?" She was angry again. I didn't blame her, she was new to this place, had so much fire in her. She didn't understand that she couldn't survive this place, or maybe she did, and she fought because she was afraid of dying.

"You'll die." I stated. On the outside I looked calm, but it was a farce. My fists were clenched so tight they stung, and on the inside it was like a raging inferno, ready to spill from my very being at any moment. I had to calm it, and fast, because if I didn't I knew, I knew I was going to do something that I couldn't take back, and the consequences would be bad, not just for me, but every prisoner on this damned ship.

There was a pause, it wasn't much, but it was enough to let my anger subside. The rasp of her voice only served to remind me of how young she was, and the more she talked the angrier I became at the scavs for their cruelty. Then she spoke. This time there was no anger in her voice, only curiosity and sorrow, and for a second I felt like she understood me.

"Why have you given up hope?" It was a simple question, yet it was so much more than that, it was a question not for me, but for my soul, for the fighting spirit that lay within me, the part that only came out when I was in the arena, fighting for my life.

"Because this place crushes you. If you survive long enough you'll know what I mean." I didn't say anything more than that, and she didn't ask anything else. I listened to her footfalls as they retreated before I sighed heavily.


	3. Chapter 3

The Day after the dragon had shown up, I was due to fight again. The scav who would lead me to the arena opened my cell door, and I stood to greet him. Walking past he closed the cell door. Turning I headed down the hall that would lead to the arena, but as I pasted her cell, I turned to see her looking at me, there was sorrow in her eyes as I marched away. Sorrow and understanding.

Turning away from her I continued on my way, though now with a heavy heart. I had seen it in her eyes, she knew what I was about to do, knew the danger of what lay ahead of me. A small part of me even believed that she knew that it was the arena that had made me the way I was. Cold and lifeless, waiting only for the next time when I would have to end someone else's life so that I could survive.

But in her eyes, what really struck my core, was the look of understanding pity that she held for me. It was the kind that only someone who had felt the same as I had could know and rightfully claim to understand. She knew, knew that I didn't want to fight anymore, knew that I just wanted it to end, but I couldn't let it end. I had tasted death so many times, in such a short time and yet the only thing I could tell you about it was that, it scared me.

The cold gripping embrace that was death was to scary for me to simply let it happen. I was a man cursed by his own circumstances. Tired of fighting, but to scared to die, I existed without a purpose, and that dragon. That young dragon who had fought like hell against the scavs yesterday. She knew the feeling I felt, and she had picked herself out of it. Brushed it aside as she fought and clung to the notion that she could find something better than what she had.

I felt weak. In comparison to her, I was weak, because I lived day to day with nothing keeping me going, but the prospect that they Scavs might one day pit me against someone strong enough to kill me. Maybe she would escape this hellhole, maybe she had the courage to try, but did I?

"My fellow felons!" I heard Scratch say as his voice boomed acrossed the arena. This caused me to shake myself from my musings as I realized I stood in front of the gate that separated me from the arena. "You love to hate him, and you love to see him win. Elvric the Brutalizer!"

At my name the crowd roared with their lust for blood. The gate rose, and I stepped out onto the battlefield. I paid the crowd of scavs little mind as I looked to the gate in front of me. My new opponent would come from that gate. Another life I would be forced to take.

I ignored Scratch and Sniff, I didn't think I'd be able to even look at them right now. My anger threatening to bubble over again. Even the sounds of their voices drew my ire, and I found myself clenching my fists again to the point of pain.

The gate began to lift and I readied myself to fight. Stepping through the gate, was a hulking mass of Scav. He closely resembled Skabb in that he was big, ugly and most assuredly stupid. He wore the common red and white striped shirt that all the scavs seemed to wear. Something I noticed however was that as he entered the ring, the crowd went silent. It was only for a moment, and I wasn't sure it had happened really, but the the crowd erupted into loud cheers.

" **Alright commander Peeves!"**

" **Tear 'is head off Commander!"**

" **Show 'im 'e ain't nothing."**

Those were the loudest of the cheers that I could hear, the rest was unintelligible, but the more they shouted and cheered, the more I began to realize that this would not be an easy fight. Peeves stood at least a head taller than me. He probably weighed more as well. I stood at a modest five foot six inches, but Peeves was at least six feet tall, I weighed...well I don't know, two years of being locked away with barely any food, had seen my body loss what fat I had, Peeves however, had a gut. The difference in our sizes was clear, and it looked as though I would die by the hands of this monster.

"That's right my comrades!" Scratch cheered his voice rising. "Commander Peeves of the ship Burning sky, wants to take on our best Warrior. This will be a battle for the ages, though I'm sure most of us know who the winner shall be."

"Peeves gonna win!, Elvric gonna **DIE!** " Sniff added excitedly.

Peeves turned his attention to me, and he laughed. It was a deep and sadistic laugh. " 'This is the famous Elvric? This scrawny piece of trash?" he said pointing one of his bulbous fingers at me, his words slurred together as his tongue hung from his mouth in a disgusting display of slobber and spit. "This won't take long, I'll crush your spine, then I'll kill that dragon they got back there." He boasted before pointing behind me.

Turning my head I Saw the dragon from before, her face was pushed against the bars of the gate, a look of concern on her face. Then Peeves's words clicked in my head, and dread washed over me. Turning to face Peeves, he laughed again. "Look at 'im!" he shouted gaining the attention of the crowd of Scavs. " He's scared!"

Immediately cheering burst from the crowd again, and they began to chant Peeves name. My fists balled in anger, the dread gone now as I gave Peeves a death glare. Laughing he drew his swords. They were twin Scimitars, polished to a shine, with the amount of care I had not seen any Scav use before. "Come on then!" Peeves shouted as he waved his hands. "Show Commander Peeves what you're made of!"

Taking a deep breath I let my fists unclench, and I began to walk towards him. "What! No fight!" He asked, but I ignored him as i continued to walk, though I increased my speed just a bit. The crowd had died down, they were shocked, I'm sure, and no doubt wanted to see what was coming next. "Don't even want to fight eh? You want me to just end it here?"

Walking up to him I stopped turning my head to look up at him. He wore a stupid smile, and his breath reeked of gum rot and cheap rum. "I expected more from ya." he said as he bent to look me in the eyes. His breath touching my nose, making me want to gag, I held back only due to my rage. I glared into his eyes wishing every imaginable pain upon him. The smile on his face fell and he stood back up, a scowl now on his face as he lifted the sword in his right hand. "Fine ya filthy piece of trash. Ya wanna die so bad, then die!" he roared.

The blade came crashing towards my head. There was a gasp from most of the crowd, but the one that caught my attention was female. There was a flash of silver and suddenly silence. Peeves was now hunched over, his sword embedded in the soil where I had been standing. Turning his head to the right he stared at me, as I turned my head to the left to stare at him.

My face must have been frightening, because the shock and fear I saw in his eyes was a surprise to me, however at the moment I didn't care about what he was feeling. I was pissed. Peeves coughed before letting his sword go, and stepping back as his hand moved to hold his throat. My arm was still outstretched, from where I had punched him. The crowd was shocked. Scratch and sniff was shocked.

Bending down I retrieved the sword Peeves had dropped. He recovered quickly, before taking his other sword, his fear now replaced with utter fury. "I'll kill you for that!" He choked out before he charged at me with his sword. Rising my arm I blocked his attack, the sheer force of his ferocity, pushing me back a bit. Pushing back against the blade, I broke our lock before I kicked out with my foot, hoping to catch him in the side, but he jumped back.

Charging again, he began to swing wildly, I did the best I could to block, but the blade in my own hands was heavy, and Peeves's attack to strong. My arms began to ache as all I could do was defend. The clash of steel sounded around the arena, as scavs roared, their bloodlust becoming heavy in the air. Sweat dripped from my brow as the fight dragged on, yet I would not yield.

Soon it became apparent that the fight would not last much longer if I continued to hold onto the blade in my hand. All I could do was defend and while Peeves might wear himself out, it was far more likely that I would fall long before that happened. A change of tactics was in order. Lifting his blade once again, Peeves left himself open. He now held onto the blade with boths hands and had lifted it high above his head, leaving his chest wide open for attack. I noticed this had become a routine with him. Bringing his sword down again I blocked, my arms screaming in pain as the vibrations from the clash could be felt in my bones.

Then he began to lift his sword again. Seeing my chance I quickly dropped the sword in my hands, it was to heavy and I wouldn't be able to strike him without being hit myself. The blade clattered to the ground as I used our close proximity to get inside of his defenses. Once inside I delivered a double flying kick to his chest. As expected he stumbled back a bitand dropped his sword, but didn't fall over.

Quickly recovering I moved in while he was still dazed. Reaching behind my back I quickly grabbed the shiv that I kept hidden in my waistband and plunged it into his stomach. I found the need to keep a several shives at the ready, I had been attacked in my cell in the past by angry scavs who had wanted to see me dead, needless to say they never walked again.

Peeves swung his fist wildly in angry, and I jumped back, but i was to slow. Stars exploded in my vision as I went tumbling to the ground. Despite the pain I pulled myself up to my hands and knees, but I was grabbed by my hair. I was thrown clear across the arena. Struggling to stand I watched as the crowd roared and cheered, their movements reminding me of rabid dogs as several of them forthed at the mouth.

Peeves approached me, a sadistic smile now on his face as I pulled myself to my feet, and readied to attack. Suddenly I felt something in my mouth. Lifting my hand to my mouth I spit into my palm. Shards of teeth and blood greeted me. Running my tongue over my teeth I found that one of my back teeth as well as one of my canines, had been shattered and dislodged. Tossing my teeth aside I growled as I readied myself.

Peeves pulled his fist back, as he tried to punch me in the face again, but I dodged it easily. It soon became a game, he would punch i would dodge, he would punch I would dodge and so on so forth. Every chance I could get I would land my own hits on him. They did little to affect him.

The battle continued for what seemed like hours, every time Peeves thought he had me, I would quickly slip from his grasp, using my smaller size I was to fast for him, but I was only running buying time until I could come up with a plan to defeat him. What was worse was I was running out of steam. Dodging another of his attacks I spotted the shiv I had stabbed him with. It was still lodged in his gut, and no doubt it caused him great pain.

An idea sparked inside of me and i changed tactics. He swung, I ducked and reached for the shiv. Tearing it from his flesh, he howled in pain but I simply dropped to the ground and rolled away, not a second later his fists crashed onto the ground. Grinning I held the shiv tightly as I approached him. He was doubled over in pain, and I quickly brought the shiv down.

" **AHHH!"** I screamed in pain, the shiv falling from my hand as Peeve's held my wrist in his hand. Kicking outward my foot caught him in his jaw and he jerked before letting go. Stumbling back I held my wrist in my hand, pain radiated from it and I knew the bone was broken.

"Bastard!" He growled as I watched him rise to his feet, he was dazed and I could see a small cut on his face from where I had kicked him. "I'll kill you, then I'll kill that dragon and spit on both of your corpses!" He roared as he charged.

"You won't touch her!" I roared back surprising every member of the crowd, Peeves didn't listen however and he came right at me.

I tried to jump out of the way, but his fist caught me in the gut and sent me spiraling to the ground. The air escaped my lungs and I couldn't breath, but before I could recover, Peeves was ontop of me, his fat hands around my throat. They squeezed, and the feeling of death come over me. My lungs burned, pleading for air, but Peeves would not let go.

Visions of the past came flooding into my mind. I had been in this position once before, had nearly died at the hands of another. Immediately my hands clawed at his own, my broken wrist doing nothing to help. Tears streaked my eyes, and I knew. After two long years, after watching all of the other prisoners die, after having survived the longest than everyone else, I was finally going to die.

"Hey!" Peeves whispered making me open my eyes as I stared at him. "I think since you care so much about that dragon, I think I'll play with her first, I'll break her before I kill her" he whispered an evil glint in his eyes.

Rage immediately replaced my fear of death, and I fought like hell to break his grip but he wouldn't let go, he even laughed as I struggled. It wasn't until I brought my knee up into his crotch that he finally let go. Rolling off of me he howled in pain, as I rolled away. Without thinking I grabbed the nearest object and brought it down.

Gasps of surprise went around the arena before it was silent. I however, I was gasping for breath as I fell to my knees. The object in my hands clattering to the ground. I coughed and gasped and threw up before I finally felt better. The haze of battle soon wore off, along with the adrenaline, and I became aware of the pain in my wrist as well as my chest and throat, but I ignored them. Instead I looked down at Peeves.

I watched his head teeter back and forth on the edge of the moot, his body being several feet away. I watched it for a moment before it stopped. Then I looked at his body, his head having been severed clean through, blood showering from his shoulders and soaking into the already bloodied battlefield.

"M-my fellow felons" Scratch started in surprise before his voice rose, he was just as surprised as everyone else. I didn't blame him, I was surprised as well. "Elvric has beaten Commander Peeves! He is the strongest Prisoner Fellmuth has ever Seen! Give him a round of cheers!"

I looked up in surprise as the crowd of Scavs began to cheer. They whistled and shouted in joy. I nearly stumbled as I stood and looked at them all, confusion and uncertainty the only thing running through my mind. Then it all went black.

 **00000**

When I woke up it took me a moment to realize where I was. Looking around I saw that I was back in my cell, I had been laid down on the bales of hay with my wrist securely wrapped in a sling that allowed little to no movement. What was worse was the left side of my face was swollen and my left eye wouldn't open, Trying to force it to open only proved painful, So I kept it shut for the time being.

"You're awake. I thought for sure you'd sleep for a week." The voice of the dragon said causing me to sit up and look at her.

I said nothing, instead I just took her features in. She was so young, and she was trapped in here. It made my heart heavy to look at her, to see the pain in her eyes, pain like mine. Looking away from her I sighed before speaking up.

"They had you fight after my fight didn't they?" I asked. There was silence for a long time, before they spoke.

"Yes." She replied, my heart clenched in pain.

"I'm sorry, no one as young as you should be forced to take a life."

"It's not the first time I've been forced to kill." She replied causing me to look up in surprise.

The room faded into silence again before I finally Spoke. "What's your name?"

"What?"

"You know my name, you heard it while Scratch was announcing me as the winner, but I don't know your name, so what is it?" She seemed to think about it for a moment before she nodded.

"My name's Cynder"

"Nice to meet you Cynder"

Feeling her eyes on me, I turned to see her looking at me in confusion. Raising an Eyebrow, I looked back at her.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"Y-you're not afraid of me?"

"No why should I be?"

She then proceeded to tell me about her life. She told me such horrible stories about how she had been kidnapped as an egg, how she was tortured and corrupted by dark magic. How she had been forced to kill dragons, and others. There were moments, points in her story that she would stop, choked sobs escaping her as she remembered painful memories, and then there were sections that she skipped over entirely. I didn't blame her, and I didn't force her to say anything she didn't want to say. I only listened my heart falling deeper into the black pit that was despair.

So young, and already so experienced and hardened by battle...It made me want to cry for her, but crying was something I had not done in a long time, I had learned to force my tears back, and I did so now, in favor of organising my thoughts.

"So what about you?" Cynder asked curiously.

"What?" I asked in confusion turning to face her as my thoughts shattered and scattered.

"I've told you about my life, but what about you, what did you do before this?"

I thought about ignoring her question, thought about telling her to survive 5 rounds, like I had done so many times before, but looking at her, I couldn't bring myself to do it. Something about her made me want to spill my guts. Standing with a defeated sigh I approached her before resting my back against the bars and letting myself slide to the floor as I stared at the ceiling, and then I told her about my life. I told her where I had grown up, told her about my friends and family, about going to school and getting a job. Then I explained how I ended up on the ship. I told her about my first time killing someone, and how I had nightmares for weeks after it had happened. I nearly broke down as the painful memories came rushing back.

Managing to keep some composure, I cleared my throat. "I've been doing this for 2 years now. It's gotten easier, easier to take a life, I don't even think about doing it anymore, I just do it. This place, it's a terrible and rotten place, that slowly corrupts the mind and soul."

"Why don't you escape? If me and you were to work together we might be able to get away." She tried but I shook my head.

"Shut up. Don't let them even hear you speaking about it. They don't care how popular you are in the arena, if they even suspect you're trying to escape, they'll kill you and put you on display for all to see." I told her my voice hard before it softened. "They only way to get away is if there was a ship wide emergency."

She was silent, likely trying to find something to say, but before she could get a word out of her mouth, I heard footsteps coming towards us, but these weren't normal footsteps, they were slow, and every second step was accompanied by a heavy thump like metal on wood. Turning to look out of the bars I watched as Skabb approached the cells.

Fear gripped my chest as I saw him, there were only a few times that he would ever come down here, and the times he did, was accompanied by the death of a prisoner, or their maiming and torturing. Turning to face Cynder, I mouthed to her telling her to retreat to the back of her cell before returning my attention to Skabb.

Coming to a stop at my cell I saw the slobber drip from his face. "Elvric, your awake!" Scratch said in joy as he fluttered off of Skabb's shoulder to rest on one of the iron bars. I noticed a lack of Sniff and that immediately put me on high alert, but I didn't voice the question on my mind. "I've been hoping to talk with you for the past day now. I've got a proposition for you."

"What did you have in mind?" I asked wearily watching him for any sign of danger.

"To the point. I like it, I find beating around the bush to be tiring. Simple put, after your match it seems that one of our ships is down a captain, and in this fleet, positions of power are granted to only those who show the most strength. You see a captain who can't lead is no captain, and the Scavs won't listen to anyone who doesn't posses a certain amount of….shall we say brutality."

"For a bird who likes to get to the point you're drawing this out. What do you want from me?" I asked with a hint of annoyance.

"Careful boy, you're ability in the ring is impressive, but that doesn't mean you'll be allowed to speak disrespectfully to me. As for what I want, I want to offer you Peeves's position as captain of his ship."

"Come again?" I asked in disbelief.

"When you chopped Peeves's head off, you showed his old crew and the entire fleet that you are just as ruthless and brutal, if not more so, than Peeves was, his crew would serve you unfailingly and I believe you would make an excellent addition to the crew."

I glanced at Cynder to gauge what her reaction to this was, and needless to say she and I shared more or less the same reaction. She was surprised and I couldn't blame her, I thought I'd die in the arena one day, but here I had a chance to get out. Returning my gaze to Scratch I nodded my head as I rolled his words in my mind. I saw his eyes light up as he took my head nodding for accepting the position.

"You can take your offer and shove it, I'd rather die in that arena then serve under you." I spat on the floor next to me as I stood from my spot on the ground and approached the small bird. He didn't even flinch as I got in his face.

"You'll regret this." He said his voice low as he spread his wings. "You should have taken my offer, but you spit on my generosity." With that he retreated to the shoulder of Skabb who quickly turned and began to leave. "You'll regret it!" he declared again before he was gone.

The room was silent for a few minutes before suddenly I could hear Cynder's voice. "Are you listening to me?" She asked snapping me out of my thoughts causing me to turn to her with confusion.

"Sorry what?"

"I said you're gonna get yourself killed!" She yelled as she slammed her paws against the bars/ "I thought you were smart? That's the only way you could have survived as long as you have, but you just did the dumbest thing I've ever seen.

"Yeah I did, didn't I?" I asked as I watched the entrance.


End file.
